Current tragic events in France risk further inflaming inter-communal tensions in Europe. Some will wish to see the recent brutal attack in the centre of Paris as another incident in a clash between the European and Islamic civilisations. At such tense moments it is important to remember that these two civilisations are not two monolithic opposed entities. For many centuries Islam has played a part, albeit a minority part, in European civilisation. The peoples of Europe too have affected the course of Islamic civilisation.
Since Islam emerged in Arabia and spread quickly across the Middle East and North Africa we should not be surprised that since the 7th century AD there has been much interaction between the European and Muslim worlds. These heartlands of the Muslim tradition are of course just across the Mediterranean Sea. This famous sea has never been a barrier between peoples, instead those living on or close to its shores have been linked to various extents. Muslim populations found their way into Europe just as predominantly Muslim lands were often also peopled by Christians.
If we think in terms of religion there is also a shared heritage. The dominant religious tradition of Europe, Christianity, grew out of Judaism in the Middle East. Islam too evolved from the same source and contains a number of the same stories and moral views. Islam, Christianity and Judaism are all on the same theological family tree, though they have of course gone in their separate ways. All three major religions have over the course of history had their own splits, heresies and divisions so much so that none of the three religions is a unified theological block.
If we look to some historical examples we can see that Muslim populations have been part of vibrant civilisations on the territory of today’s Europe. The most famous example is Al-Andalus, a mix of kingdoms founded in Spain and Portugal from the 8th century onwards. For several hundred years Iberia was ruled by Muslims. The area contained a large number of Christians and Jews and while there were persistent differences and problems between the groups, Al-Andalus was more tolerant than elsewhere. The result of this was a lively civilisation which created beautiful buildings and led the way in terms of learning, science and philosophy. As this kingdom went into decline in the 12th century another Kingdom in Sicily took the spotlight. Roger II’s Sicily was a rare bright spot in the dark European Middle Ages. This kingdom was populated by Normans, Greeks and Arabs. Further North, Russia has had much interaction with Muslim peoples. The Mongols who dominated territory later to become Russia converted to Islam and Muslim populations can still be found in Russia today.
Muslim communities in Europe are not just an historic phenomenon. From the 14th century onwards, Muslim populations have been present, particularly in the Balkans. The Ottoman Empire, headed by the Muslim Turks, spread across the Balkan peninsula for several centuries. The Ottomans themselves were something of a fusion between Christian and Islamic civilisations. For example the beautiful Ottoman architecture which brightens up much of South-East Europe is a development on earlier, Christian, Byzantine modes.
Whilst the Ottoman Empire collapsed and was broken up in the early twentieth century, Muslim populations have remained in Europe. Bosnia and Albania were examples of largely Muslim countries. Both Greece and Bulgaria continue to have Muslim minority populations. Depending on where you wish to draw the borders of Europe you could include Turkey and Azerbaijan, both Muslim majority countries. Historically then Europe has contained a number of Muslim peoples who have contributed to the history of Europe.
Relations between the various Christian European and Muslim peoples have not always been good. Several centuries ago when Muslim lands were wealthy, culturally lively, confident and secure, European lands were often backwards and poor. This imbalance between the civilisations and the Christian perception that they were under attack created the Crusades, a brutal and bloody holy war launched by the Christian world. Some readings of the current world see this situation now reversed. Muslim civilisations have suffered a decline in power to the extent that European and Western Imperial powers have been tearing apart and conquering large parts of the Muslim world from the twentieth century onwards. It is to the Muslim world’s credit that in this reversed situation only a few isolated groups have take up its own holy war.
The real danger in the current Paris events is not what the actions of a few isolated armed people will do. Such people can inflect terrible hurt and do much damage but they are not in any way an existential danger to a society. The danger is the reactions they provoke. In a Europe already becoming more xenophobic, as is shown by the on going rise of various Far-Right movements across the continent, these events will only further poison the atmosphere. Political rhetoric which sets the current events within a narrative of Us vs Them or talks about the need to defend Civilisation will only polarize the situation. Neither the European nor the Muslim civilisations are monolithic unified blocks. Both have, and do, interact and co-exist in various ways.
Religious fundamentalism can not survive on its own. Being a strict, unnatural and negative view of the world its appeal generally doesn’t extend beyond force and fear. Only by creating and exploiting a world divided into Us and Them can they ever gain ground. Those seeking to create such divisions, whether through weapons or laws, can succeed only if people fail to understand the world they live in.
pophistoryblog 